Moskowitz Paintings
Shirley Moskowitz Gruber, a well known artist who lives in California, is the niece of Joe Simon and the mother of Ruth Gruber who visited here recently. Moskowitz has been so kind as to donate one of her watercolors to the museum. It was painted in 1944 from a sketch which she did on a visit to Elgin in 1943. A careful look reveals that it portrays the corner of Central Avenue and Main Street. The arches are the remains of the old Elgin Bank building which burned in March 1943. It was built about 1906 and occupied by the bank until 1923.
Moskowitz also sent a photo of another watercolor which she did at that time of some houses outside of Elgin. This exuberantly colorful painting now hangs in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Some original sketches and some copies of Elgin sketches from her sketchbook were also included in the package. All these artworks can be seen in the museum.
posted by Ann Helgeson at 4:13 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you for this post. Just for the record, my mother Shirley Moskowitz Gruber was not the niece of Joe Simon, but rather his first cousin. Joe's mother was Sarah Simon the eldest of Philip Susnitsky, of Brenham. Shirley was the daughter of Flora Susnitsky Moskowitz, a sister of Sarah. Shirley died in 2007 at the age 87. I am presently going through my mother's sketchbooks and diaries and there materials related to her visits to Elgin in the 1930s and 40s. I have fond memories of Elgin in 1988, and visiting Joe Simon in his store.
Post a Comment
<< Home